The notion that former President Moi and his erstwhile acolytes should be compensated to give up land they carved out of the Mau forest complex would be hilarious were it not so flabbergasting.

Why would Mr Moi be paid a single cent when he irregularly allocated to himself government forest land? How much money did he pay for that land? How much in taxes?

If he and his cronies can provide proof that they paid the government for the grabbed forest land, then, indeed, they are entitled to some compensation. But if they merely parcelled out the land and gave themselves title, where are they coming from?

The issue is not whether the titles these "land-owners" hold are legal or not; the issue is whether it is morally right for the government to pay people who acquired public property illegitimately, then retroactively legitimised wrong-doing.

What is even more unfortunate is that thousands of poor people were forced out of the forest without any hint at compensation or even resettlement.

If, for any reason, anyone is going to get compensation, what was all the brouhaha about two months back when the already deprived were evicted?

It is true that property rights have to be protected under the law. It is equally true that illegally acquired property should be forfeited to the rightful owners. The rightful owners in this case are Kenyans.

Parliament cannot escape blame for this mess. Legislators stayed away from the House when the matter was being debated, and a ridiculous motion was passed by a handful of MPs endorsing the right to compensation for land-grabbers.

Now the least that they can do is to go back to Parliament and undo the damage, otherwise Kenyans' hard-earned funds will have been used to reward people who deserve to be charged for abuse of office, land-grabbing, and other forms of malfeasance.

It is reassuring that Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta has denied any knowledge about the payment scheme. We can only hope he is not merely engaging in damage control.